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Tuesday, February 28, 2017

One of the strange dynamics during the election was the support of Trump by Indian nationalists in India as well as in the US. Between the pathetic reaction to the shootings of Indian-Americans in Kansas and the possible restrictions against Indian students who get their degrees in the US (kiss H1B visas goodbye) as well as Indians who are in the US illegally, there is a growing realization that Trump might be bad for this community. You think?

Well, the one thing this election has accomplished is to make us understand better intersectionality: that people have multiple identities and may find themselves choosing among candidates/parties/whatever with conflicting imperatives. So, some Indian Americans may have favored Trump because they shared a common foe--Islam and Muslims--despite the fact that Trump was clearly a racist, and that the brown skin of Indians might just be a problem down the road. Likewise, and one of the key reasons I got the election wrong, more than a few white women ignored Trump's misogyny because they liked his racism. Some Hispanic men may have voted for Trump because of his misogyny despite his racism. Some Jews voted for Trump despite his anti-semitic pals (Bannon, etc), hoping that Kushner would somehow moderate Trump as they were desperate for a pro-Israel position.

I didn't quite anticipate this, but I was worried about it and posted about the problems of allying with an awful, awful person/party which had played upon hate, with this graphic:

As I learned in Romania from the Greater Romania Party, extreme nationalists have lists of "others" and work up and down their lists, depending on what works and what is convenient. Hoping that Trump and Bannon would not develop policies against one's group because of a shared animus towards another group was, alas, stupid and self-destructive, unless one is a white male Christian.

So, yeah, Indian Americans are screwed, so they can join the club. Not sure the early members, Muslim Americans and Mexican Americans will be all that thrilled, but perhaps the realities of Trump's policies and the violence they inspire (note the Muslims and Jews helping each other deal with the various crimes committed against them) will mean a more united front in 2018 and 2020, perhaps enough to overcome #voterfraudfraud.

All I know is that those who don't like Muslims and who bet on Islamophobia are now having to face the reality that hate is toxic.

Sunday, February 26, 2017

Twas a pretty terrific ISA this year and not just because I received a Duckie! The Online Media Caucus had several events that were went off quite well. There was a Live Tweet panel where folks chatted and tweeted and discussed twitter strategies.

Will Moore dressed for his Ignite conference

My roommate, Bill Ayres, brought cookies as usual!

Sara Mitchell, whose laugh is perhaps the only one in the
business that is louder and more piercing than mine

I spent plenty of time hanging out with smart folks and, well, drinking beer. During my first dinner, a trivia game broke out. I was proud our team won for best name: "Bowling Green Survivors"

A big story of this ISA was reaction to and protest of the Muslim Ban and all that Trump is doing.

The G-Man in the middle is actually Cullen Hendrix,
a prof at U of Denver. I think he would have looked better
in his drummer garb. Oh well.

The ban had a direct impact on me and mine: Aisha Ahmad was to receive an award for the best paper on International Security in 2016, but she could not attend given how Canadian Muslims were being treated at the border. It was my honor to accept on her behalf, but also my shame--that my country (well one of the two) was behaving so badly that she could not attend. I was and am super proud of her--for her achievement and the classy statement she had me read.

First Spidey appearance

There was
also some silliness as there is an amazing pop culture museum next to
the Hilton. Heaps of original comic books and heaps of all kinds of
stuff..

And an old book cover that could be the new cover for any books on US intervention policy:

As always, I enjoyed seeing my friends, making new ones, eating great food, having some terrific beer, not losing at poker, getting feedback and learning about the latest research

Friday, February 24, 2017

As I am that the International Studies Association meeting, inspiration strikes in all kinds of strange ways. In discussing Trump and Sessions and the potential end of American democracy, I realized that there is stuff that can be done to fight #voterfraudfraud--the effort to suppress likely Democratic voters (minorities, students, etc).

Of course, the best course of action are legal strategies to get these laws tossed out. But that takes much time and often happens too late, so that likely Dem voters are discouraged. What we need to do is support efforts to get people the ID's needed to register to vote--which can be driver's licenses, fishing or hunting permits, gun permits, passport, etc.

The first step, besides fundraising and organization, is to identify what ID's are needed in each state and figure out for each state:

which ID is the easiest to get (requires the least paperwork, requires no or easy visit to get, etc)

which ID is the cheapest to get

which ID does not need to get renewed or does not have to be renewed frequently.

The second step is to help potentially disenfranchised voters whichever ID makes the most sense in terms of cost, difficulty and length of renewal. If it means getting heaps of people gun permits rather than passports or driver's licenses or whatever, then do it.

The third step is to make voting more pleasant in an environment where it is more difficult. The GOP have realized that early voting is a problem for them, so they have eliminated some of it, especially those days when African-Americans tend to vote (Sundays). This creates huge lines on election days, so resistance organizations should try to provide water/food/umbrellas/folding chairs, and whatever else to make it easier to stand on line for hours. Perhaps music and entertainment or whatever.

Get out the Vote Efforts happen just before elections, when it is too late to get people the ID they need to register, to vote. We need to make an effort now to get people the ID's they need so that they can register and then get to vote, and then we need to make voting less painful despite the best efforts of the GOP to make it inconvenient. Sure, if we can, get laws passed to extend early voting, make it possible or easier to mail in one's vote and all that. But if we can't make election days holidays and if we can't legislate our way through this in states dominated by GOP, then make it easier to vote.

Stephen M. Saideman

Intro

Greetings! I am a political scientist, specializing in International Relations, my research and teaching focus on ethnic conflict and civil-military relations. I watch way too much TV, and I like movies as well so I tend to write about both and find IR stuff in pop culture. I rant alot about American politics and sometimes about Canadian politics. I like to take ideas I once learned a long time ago and apply them to whatever strikes my fancy.